Tuesday, April 30, 2013

I am on my flight back home from the Dentrix Train–the–Trainer
annual meeting. The meeting was held this year in San Antonio during Fiesta
Week, so not only did we have three days of learning opportunities, but we also
had a ton of fun doing it. My next couple of blogs will focus on some of the
cool, new things that I learned during my time in San Antonio.

One morning, I was registered for a Treatment Plan and Case
Presentation class. My first thought was, “I have taught
this class. What could I possibility learn?” However, my philosophy is that
there is always learning to be done and I was right. I typically do not train
on the Treatment Plan Presenter, but I am going to rethink that after what I
witnessed in San Antonio.

Did you know that you can add your own X-rays, photos, other
images, text, or video into the Dentrix Presenter to create a dramatic,
professional case presentation? It is so simple and, once the setup is done,
putting a presentation together is a snap. You can pull in an image, X-ray, or
video, and then assign it to certain procedure codes so it will automatically
load into the presentation for you. Also, these images or text can be printed
onto a treatment plan estimate if you so choose.

How do you do it? Follow along . . .

Open up your patient chart in Treatment Plan View > Case
Presentation Setup or open the Presenter and click on the Patient Education
Topics. Now click on the New Topic icon and a window that looks like this will
open.

This is where you can add your own slide for any patient
treatment plan presentation. Just follow the instructions in the window. First,
select a title for your slide in the Topic Title, then select the image for
this slide. The next two boxes are used if you are going to print out patient
education when printing a patient treatment plan estimate. Finally, on the
right side of the box, select the procedure codes that would relate to this
topic. In my example, I selected the porcelain crown code and the adult
orthodontics codes. When you are finished, click OK and your new education
topic will now show in the list under the category you have put it in.

Have fun with this! After what I learned in the Lone Star
State, I am definitely going to create some incredible treatment plan
presentations and increase my case acceptance.

Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Seven years ago when I took the Dentrix Certification course
to become a trainer, the only reason I did it was I wanted to learn more about
the program. When the training department sent me on my first initial training,
I knew that teaching, coaching, and consulting was my calling … but I know that
I can’t reach everyone out there. I also know that, even with our team of 120
certified trainers, we can’t reach everyone using Dentrix. Whether you are a
new team member using Dentrix for the first time or the office manager who has
been with the office your entire career, there is always learning that can be
done. This is why I am so excited with the redesign of the Dentrix ResourceCenter and the Learning Plans.

With the redesign, when you log into the Dentrix ResourceCenter, you can select a Learning Plan that fits your common tasks or job
functions. You also have access to many other tools such as…

·The Dentrix Magazine, which contains
articles from key opinion leaders in the dental industry, great tips and tricks
on how to use Dentrix more efficiently, and feature articles on how to optimize
your Dentrix software. As a side note, many of my blog posts have been turned
into feature articles in the Dentrix Magazine so look out for them.

·Webinar Recordings that you can
access anytime, anywhere 24/7/365. When my office was transitioning from paper
charts to digital charting, my doctor decided to go to Mexico on vacation … so
I gave him some homework. He had to log into the Dentrix Resource Center from
an Internet café in Cabo and watch three webinars I had selected for him. When
he returned to the office, he was very happy that I gave him that homework.

·Knowledgebase Articles are perfect
for when you have a specific question and want to do your own research. I use
the Knowledgebase all the time. When I get a question to which I don’t know the
answer, I go straight to the Knowledgebase. When I find the answer, I print it
out so everyone can reference back to it if needed.

·Dentrix eNewsletter is filled with
great tips and tricks, but it will also give you specialized information for
your area, such as seminars or workshops that will be offered in your town.

·User Guides are available to print
if you so choose. Dentrix user guides are now only available as PDFs, but every
now and then I come across someone who wants a printed manual.

Check out the Resource Center today! If your office is on a
Dentrix support plan, this amazing resource is available at no extra cost. I
use it at least a couple times each week. If I can benefit from it, so can you.

Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

In my last blog “Become Super Efficient with Templates,” I
mentioned how to make your procedure buttons on the patient chart
“super-efficient” by attaching a multi-code to a button. Later, I realized that
multi-codes are a great template system that can be used all throughout Dentrix
for the entire team, not just in the patient chart. I love multi-codes. In fact,
at my office, since the system only allows 8 procedure codes within a
multi-code, I have some with multi-codes inside of multi-codes where it will
treatment plan 12 procedure codes with the click of one button.

The front office can benefit from using multi-codes just as
much as the clinical team. They can be used on the Appointment Book when scheduling
or inside the Patient Ledger when posting or treatment planning.

Just in case some of you don’t know how to create a
multi-code, I will start from the beginning.

Go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice
Setup > Multi-code setup. If you have never added or edited the multi-codes,
there will be a long list of Dentrix default templates that you can edit to
meet the needs of your practice or delete if you will not use them. From here, click
on new and enter the specifics for your new multi-code. Some examples include
the different types of hygiene visits, steps involved with dentures and
partials, implant procedures, and new patient exams.

Using multi-codes in the appointment book can make scheduling
hygiene and new patient exams a snap. Many offices I work with, including my
own, have attached multi-codes into the Initial Reason box on the appointment
screen. With the click of one button, you have scheduled the patient for his or
her exam, prophy, bwx, and fluoride. When you set the appointment complete, it
will post all the procedures together.

Another way the front office can use multi-codes is in the
patient ledger. I find that many front office team members can be a little
intimidated with using the patient chart (especially if they don’t have a
clinical background). With that being said, you can easily treatment plan
through the patient ledger and still take full advantage of the efficiency of
the multi-codes. When you switch from the ledger page to the treatment plan
page, you can click on the “enter procedure” icon (or from the menu click on
Transaction > enter procedure) then you will see your multi-codes listed on
the right-hand side of the screen. Now select the multi-code you want and click
add and OK/Post. See how that is much more time-efficient than entering all the
procedures individually?

In addition to using multi-codes for efficiency, they are
also extremely helpful in ensuring that the correct
procedure codes are being posted. Most clinical team members do not have a
coding background and haven’t a clue which procedure codes to use. Also, if you
have a new member of your front office who is new to dentistry, it is important
to setup safeguards to make sure proper coding is being used. Using multi-codes
ensures that the clinical team and new employees are coding treatment properly.

Maximizing the tools available in your Dentrix software and
creating efficient systems make for a happy team and accurate coding.

Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.

·Procedure Note Templates – This is
my favorite place for the clinical team to document the procedure’s clinical
justification (diagnosis, clinical narrative, and remarks for insurance claim).
I like it to be documented here because the diagnosis will follow the procedure
from treatment planning all the way into history. Also, this note box will
download directly into the insurance claim for “Remarks for Unusual Services,”
which is required for many procedures. There are two ways to add some reason
templates into this area. One is to open the Office Manager > Maintenance
> Practice Setup > Custom Notes > Procedure Notes then click add to
add a new narrative, or from the patient chart, double-click on a treatment
planned procedure and click on the Procedure Note button. Either way, you will
open a new box that looks like this:

I want the clinical team to be able to
enter information as quickly as possible. Using these Procedure Note templates
will help by creating a mouse-driven system instead of typing on the keyboard.

·Clinical Note Templates – Like I
said above, my goal with the clinical team is to be able to enter critical
information with the click of a mouse instead of spending too much time typing.
This is why my next favorite template is the customizable Clinical Notes
Templates. Many of the dental practices I work with use templates
that are attached to the procedure codes, so when a procedure code is set
complete, it automatically sends a customized template to the clinical note and
then the team member must add in the variables for the patient. But what if you
could build a template that would include the variables and all you had to do
was click with your mouse from a list and then it would build a custom clinical
note for the patient with very little typing? By using the Clinical Note
templates in the patient chart, this can be a reality. For a step-by-step
instruction sheet on building this type of clinical note template click here to
email me directly.

·Procedure Buttons – With G4, you can
have as many buttons as you wish so this list should be the most common
procedures you chart as existing, treatment plan, or conditions. Do you want to
know how the buttons can be super-efficient? Use a multi-code on a button, then
you can treatment plan two to eight procedures with the click on one button. How
efficient is that? Also with G4, you do not have to create the buttons on each
workstation individually, you create button sets and then can select the button
set you want for each workstation.

To edit the procedure buttons in your
office, go to the patient chart > Setup > Procedure Buttons setup >
then there is a drop-down menu at the top of the box where you can select the
button set you want to use on this workstation. Now you can add, edit, or
delete buttons as you wish. Remember, always making sure you click save before
you close!

·Health History Update using the
Questionnaire Module – The health history update is something that
needs to be updated or reviewed at every patient visit. With many offices
eliminating the paper chart, there needs to be an efficient way to document the
health history. The reason I like the Questionnaire Module is because it is a
set, templated form and it will auto-fill the patient answers from the last
visit. This will save the clinical team member an enormous amount of time retyping
information like medication lists and allergies.

I hope these template tips will
help your office become more efficient and consistent with your daily charting
tasks. If your office has temporary employees fill in for someone out sick or
on leave, using templates will also guarantee that the documentation stays
within your office protocol.

Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.